


Alternate Universes

by DarkJediQueen



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Challenge Response, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 08:42:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 9,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14421660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: Ten pictures, ten short stories. A whole series of short stories about a few what if's for Criminal Minds and James Bond.Tags and warnings for each chapter are in the notes for that chapter.





	1. The Cute Shifter One (Criminal Minds)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivermoon1970](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivermoon1970/gifts), [NimueOfTheNorth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NimueOfTheNorth/gifts), [SpencnerTibbsLuvr (KliqzAngel)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KliqzAngel/gifts).



> Each of the stories has their own summaries, tags, and warnings, please read them over before reading each one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Aaron's trying to talk Jack into shifting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title** : The Cute Shifter One  
>  **Fandom** : Criminal Minds  
>  **Year** : October 2009  
>  **Tags** : One-Shot, Shifter, Alternate Universe,  
>  **Ratings** : Teen And Up Audiences  
>  **Pairings** : Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid  
>  **Characters** : Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, Jack Hotchner  
>  **Spoilers** : Up Through Season Five  
>  **Summary** : Where Aaron's trying to talk Jack into shifting.  
>  **Words** : 941  
>  **Notes** : This is a one-shot, no further stories will be written for this.  
>  **Warnings** : Canon Character Death,  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly
> 
>  

Aaron Hotchner looked at his son and sighed. Jack had been unwilling to even go to the day classes that were available for his age. Aaron had tried to drop him off at several in the DC area, but he refused to talk with any of the other kids. Aaron was at his wit's end. Jack was born of two very powerful shifters and yet, unlike most shifters he hadn't changed when he was a toddler. Shifters grew into their bodies just like animals did. Most children spent half of their life before five in their shifted form much of their second year of life was in animal form just like the first was in human form.

It didn't help that Haley had been killed by a serial killer who had been bent on taking Haley and Jack from him. The Reaper had just made a single error. Aaron's love for Haley had died when she had tried to leave Aaron with nothing, not even his son just after Jack was born. Jack had retreated from his form in all ways it seemed when that had happened.

"Come on Jack." Aaron tossed the ball at his son. It was a plastic squeak toy for shifter kids, and Jack loved to play with it. However, they had been roughhousing while playing and Aaron had seen Jack's eyes change color and then Jack had stopped wanting to play. Now Jack was pouting in the corner wanting Spencer who was still at work. One of them had to work, and Spencer had stepped up to help Morgan with paperwork given that Jack wasn't adjusting well to the death of his mother and the fact the FBI had tried to remove Spencer from the team in the aftermath of Spencer being the one to kill Foyet. Aaron had always said that Spencer had the instincts of a shifter and he had followed those to end up at the Hotchner home just after Haley and Jack had been taken by Foyet.

Jack was adorable when he pouted, but Aaron was frustrated. There was a lot of things that could go wrong if Jack tried to keep an essential part of him buried.

"Aaron?" Spencer called out as he let himself into the house that the family was still getting used to. Jack was unwilling to part with Spencer and Aaron after Foyet, and neither had been able to tell him now. Neither of the apartments had been big enough for the three of them and be able to live together without fights so a house that was halfway between DC and Quantico it had been. Hence the FBI finding out about a relationship that had started just weeks after Aaron's divorce had been finalized.

Aaron ignored Spencer and instead changed into his form. A Golden Lab. He trotted over to Jack and nudged him. Jack pushed his snout away from him with a frown.

"Another bad day?" Spencer asked as he entered the living room to put up his gun in the safe. When he was done with that, he picked up Jack and settled the boy in his lap. Aaron woofed at the two of them and lowered the front of his body and shook his tail acting like a cat before pouncing. "Look at you father, acting like a fool."

Jack smiled a little at that, but he cuddled into Spencer's body. Aaron jumped to the side and started to bark louder and louder trying to get Jack to react at all. Spencer laughed at Aaron's antics, and the smile on Jack's grew larger and larger. He started to laugh, so Aaron half lunged at him.

Before Aaron realized what was going on, he saw a kitten in front of him. It was standing with it's back arched and made a spitting noise. It pranced around for a few seconds. Aaron dropped down to his belly and laid his head down between his paws. Aaron inched forward, and the kitten stared at him before settling down and reaching out. The kitten booped Aaron on the nose just like Spencer usually did when Aaron was trying to get Spencer to play while Aaron was shifted. Aaron let out a soft woof and let his eyes flick over to where Spencer had been before Jack had shifted only to find that Spencer wasn't there.

Jack was standing there looking at the kitten and Aaron in shock. Jack walked over to pet the kitten which Aaron was having trouble of settling him as Spencer in his mind. Spencer had said that he had no shifter genes in his family anywhere. There was a few seconds of Jack petting Spencer before Jack crouched on his hands and knees and Aaron watched as his son shifted for the first time. Spencer pounced onto Jack's back as soon as the boy was fully a kitten. Aaron watched the two play for a few minutes before he nosed in between them.

Two hours later, Aaron was kind of regretting everything in his life as he was laying in the middle of the living room with two kittens asleep on top of his back. He couldn't move because that would wake them up and unleash hell on him again.

One young shifter was one thing, but Spencer's very late in life shift meant that he was essentially a child in a human body when it came to the animal within. If he moved, they would wake up and want to play again. Aaron was already feeling like an eighty-year-old in a not yet fifty-year-old man's body. He wasn't going to survive this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.


	2. The Angst One (Criminal Minds)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There were some days that just driving was the only thing that kept Aaron's mind from going insane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title** : The Angst One  
>  **Fandom** : Criminal Minds  
>  **Year** : 2015  
>  **Tags** : One-Shot, Alternate Universe,  
>  **Ratings** : Teen And Up Audiences  
>  **Pairings** : Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid  
>  **Characters** : Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid  
>  **Spoilers** : None  
>  **Summary** : There were some days that just driving was the only thing that kept Aaron's mind from going insane.  
>  **Words** : 999  
>  **Notes** : This is a one-shot, no further stories will be written for this.  
>  **Warnings** : Mentions of possible underage sex,  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly
> 
>  

Some days, it felt like the only thing that kept Aaron sane was driving. He had an old restored nineteen sixty-seven Jaguar E-Type Series I car was his baby, and he only drove it on the well-paved roads between some of the more expensive tracts of land in the still very much elite area of Virginia. There was a stretch of it that had trees that had grown to make a canopy. Aaron would sometimes pull over and sit there with the road stretching out in front of him.

Sitting there for an hour, Aaron realized that he was not alone as he thought that he was. He looked around and found that in the height of one of the trees about twenty feet in front of him was a man who looked like he was reading. Aaron watched the man reading. He looked wholly engrossed in his book, so Aaron tried to figure him out. It was the middle of nowhere. The closest house was two miles back. The area that Aaron was in was all woods, and he knew it well having grown up just a mile the other way down the road. That house had been taken out by the people that had bought the land after his father had died and his mother put it up for sale. It was only overgrown with trees.

Aaron knew why he came out this way, and it wasn't anything to do with escaping his current life but instead going back to when he had been younger and had done something stupid. Aaron had running from the life that had crashed around him. He had got into his car, his normal family man sedan at ht time and just started to drive. He had ended up where he was now and hadn't even thought about it. It had been dark out, and only his headlights had caught the fact that a man was walking along the side of the road. Aaron had stopped and tried to see if he needed a ride. The man had told him that he knew where he was going and he didn't need a ride. It wasn't until Aaron was stopping his car that he realized how beautiful the man was and that he wasn't a man but a very young man.

The man was easy to talk to, and Aaron had opened up about everything. Finding his wife in bed with the man that he thought was his best friend. Aaron had felt a lot of justification when he tossed the papers in his hand onto the bed and said that he wanted a divorce and that if she didn't give him what he wanted, this was going to come out publicly. Haley's older brother was one of the biggest candidates for running for President and with his running mate being found in bed with a married woman wasn't going to go over well.

Aaron got out of the car and walked up to the tree the man was in. It wasn't until Aaron was standing right below the tree that Aaron realized that it was the same man. The man that Aaron had started to talk to and had ended up having sex with before they had gone their separate ways. Aaron had never asked the man's age, and he had never given it, but Aaron was pretty sure that if he was eighteen, he hadn't been eighteen long if not below that age.

"Mister Hotchner," the man said as he looked up at Aaron for a second before going back to his book. Aaron had never told Spencer his last name, but Aaron's face was in a lot of places with the ads for his law firm that were everywhere.

"Spencer," Aaron said the man's name coming to him as he stared at him. Spencer looked as beautiful as he had that night. Spencer smiled at him and set his book down in the crook of a branch of the tree. He watched as Spencer started to climb down the tree. Aaron would never understand why he did what he did but he stepped up and when Spencer turned around after getting on solid ground, Aaron had him plastered to the tree with his lips on his.

"Aaron," Spencer panted when Aaron pulled back.

"Come back to my place with me?" Aaron asked. He hadn't thought about Spencer in nearly thirteen years when he stopped hoping that every man with long, wild, curly hair who stepped into his office was Spencer. It had been sixteen years since their night together, and while Aaron was older, he stayed in good shape.

Aaron leaned in and kissed Spencer's again, hoping that the young man wasn't going to say no. It was stupid and horrible but out of everything that was going on in Aaron's life at the moment this was at least going to make him happy.

"You aren't thinking right."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know that you are barely a single day out of being left at the altar."

"No different than the last time that you and I did anything. I was just hours from finding my wife in bed with my best friend."

"Have you ever thought that maybe your issue is that you shouldn't have a relationship with a woman?" Spencer asked.

"It's crossed my mind a few times in the past day. The thing is that the only male I have ever had any attraction to only gave me a first name and I've never found him again until now. It's why I was hoping he would go home with me."

"And a relationship based on sex is not a good idea," Spencer said, but he pulled Aaron in for a kiss again. Aaron lost himself in that mouth and tried not to groan in longing when Spencer pulled back. "So, I'll allow you to take me to lunch today and not have me for lunch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.


	3. The Long Game One (James Bond)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James knew that he could dust the board for prints, but if it was lacking, he would be more worried than he currently was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title** : The Long Game One  
>  **Fandom** : James Bond  
>  **Year** : 2012  
>  **Tags** : One-Shot, Alternate Universe,  
>  **Ratings** : Teen And Up Audiences  
>  **Pairings** : James Bond/Q,  
>  **Characters** : James Bond, Q,  
>  **Spoilers** : Up Through Spectre  
>  **Summary** : James knew that he could dust the board for prints, but if it was lacking, he would be more worried than he currently was.  
>  **Words** : 989  
>  **Notes** : This is a one-shot, no further stories will be written for this.  
>  **Warnings** :  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly
> 
>  

James Bond looked at the chess board in his living room. His stealth game player had struck again. He wasn't shocked as he had been out of town for a week on a mission that would finalise his ability to go back to MI6 with his head held high and ask for forgiveness from the friends that he had seemingly abandoned. He stopped and thought about his next move. He had plotted his moves before he left but his mystery player had made a move that James had thought about, so it was going to take time. James thought about dusting the game board for prints, but he was worried what the prints would say. James would rather live in the hope that it was who he wanted it to be and not one of his fellow Double-O's taking the piss out on him for being a wanker.

An hour later, James was dressed and ready to head into MI6. He picked up his white chess piece and moved it on the board, smiling before he walked to the gun safe to get out his gun. He slipped that into the shoulder holster and made sure that he looked impeccable for his return.

MI6 was a hive of activity as the information that he had brought back with him after six months out in the cold had shown MI6 the exact breadth of the SPECTRE organisation.

James expected a cold reception as he entered Q-Branch to hand in the weapon and the keys to the car that he had taken without permission from the higher up. Well that was what had been on paper about the whole situation, but in fact, James had the okay of M to take the car. The gun had also been taken without Q even knowing, and James had been kind of shocked that Q had never changed the palm print sensor to reject him. He knew it could be done remotely as 008 had found out when he had turned on 003 during a mission, and his gun stopped working to allow 003 to shoot to kill.

Q was seated at his station at the front of the room with a leg stretched out in front of him a brace wrapped around it. James's stomach lurched at the thought that while he was gone someone had gone after Q. The one weakness that he had. He had made everyone believe that he had left Q behind and gone with Swann but after James had left her, there was proof that James didn't care for her as much as it seemed.

"Welcome home, Bond," Q said as he turned his head enough to smile at James without turning all the way around.

"Q," James said as he drew even with Q. Q had no other issues. His hands were free from even the scratches that James knew were from building tech. No burns from a soldering iron and playing with to things when too tired. Q looked to be in better health than James had ever seen him in.

"Did you bring back any equipment this time?" Q asked as he finally set down what he was doing and turned around to face James, from the side at least. His leg was propped onto a rolling stool with a pillow so when he turned it moved with him. James stepped back so that Q could rightly face him before stepping back in. Being close to Q was never the issue, it was staying away.

James settled his gun with no bullets had he had run out of the ones that he had stolen quite early, but the gun was in perfect condition on the middle of the tray and then fished the keys from his pocket.

"A full return, if the car is in good condition."

"A few scratches and a single busted window but other than that, yes."

"Good. Also, check." Q turned back to his computer and typed a few things, and a digital chessboard popped up. James looked at it, and it took a few seconds to realise that it was a replica of the game that he and his mystery person were playing. However, there was a single piece moved, and James realised that he was indeed in check.

"How did you?" James looked down at Q's leg. James's flat had no elevator, and there was no way with a leg in a brace like that he would get up those stairs in the hour since James had left there.

"It's an entirely automated chess board. I made it two years ago in Q-Branch while drunk and stuffed on pizza after a long assed hack had the Quartermaster at the time feed us pizza and alcohol because he didn't want to inflict us with our hack high on the world as we wanted pizza. I slipped it into your things that were in storage before you moved into your new flat. I saw you with the fingerprint kit that you nicked from Q-Branch a week after Skyfall debating using it. I'm kind of glad you didn't as if you had you would have found no prints and started to ignore the board or threw it away.

James reached out and drew his finger over the board on the screen, and it moved. He was looking forward to playing more games with Q. Q made his move, and James realised that he was fucked. There were only two moves that he could make and both of them would put him in mate. James tipped his Queen over, and the board reset.

"You have meetings all day, how about after that you pick me up in an SUV, and we go out to dinner?" Q asked.

"Gladly. I'll make the reservations."

"I'm on crutches so please make sure that there is room and I'm not changing out of this."

"Of course, dear."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.


	4. The Metal Man One (Criminal Minds)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron swore that he was seeing things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title** : The Metal Man One  
>  **Fandom** : Criminal Minds  
>  **Year** : 2015  
>  **Tags** : One-Shot, Science Fiction, Angst, Alternate Universe,  
>  **Ratings** : Mature  
>  **Pairings** : Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid  
>  **Characters** : Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, Jack Hotchner  
>  **Spoilers** : None  
>  **Summary** : Aaron swore that he was seeing things.  
>  **Words** : 1,000  
>  **Notes** : This is a one-shot, no further stories will be written for this.  
>  **Warnings** : Graphic Depictions of Violence  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly
> 
>  

Aaron felt the area around him burning. He had not been able to save Spencer who had been asleep in the bedroom in the attic. Peter Lewis had started the fire there and hoped to take out Spencer and Jack in one fell swoop. However, Lewis had not expected Jack to go down for a drink in the kitchen just before Lewis remotely triggered the fire. Aaron had been just arriving home in time for the explosion. Aaron had nearly broken down the door and hadn't touched the alarm and instead pressed the buttons that would get the police, the FBI, and the fire department there. Jack had come running out of the kitchen with a frantic look on his face as Aaron had started toward the steps. Aaron had ushered Jack out of the house and ran to save his boyfriend. The inferno though had engulfed the second and third floors.

After realizing that there was no way to save Spencer, Aaron had forced himself out of the house. Which was where he was now, staring at his burning house with Lewis standing way too close to it with Jack tucked close to his body. Aaron had the gun trained on Lewis, but Lewis had a knife to Jack's throat. Aaron tried not to show Lewis fear but instead anger because Lewis wanted fear but he wasn't going to get it from Aaron.

The flames behind Lewis were taking on weird shapes and just looking wrong. Aaron tried not to keep looking at them, but when he started to see things like a person moving in the flames, he couldn't help it. Lewis kept looking at Aaron and then darting his eyes to the side like he was looking for something. Lewis screamed and let go of Jack. Jack took off without needing his father to say a single word.

"You can't have what's mine," a voice said that Aaron thought he would never hear again.

Lewis screamed even more, and Aaron could see the shape of Spencer in the flames. But when Spencer stepped out of the flames to spin around and push Lewis even more toward them, Aaron realized that it wasn't Spencer. It looked like a Terminator or something. Aaron held his gun out keeping both Spencer and Lewis in his line of sight.

"What the fuck are you?"

"I guess you could call me a robot." Spencer shoved his hand out, and Lewis stumbled back into the fire, screaming.

The sirens of the help that Aaron had summoned before the electricity in the house had gone out to the lines being burned screamed in the night air. Aaron watched Spencer as he watched the fire burn and then turned around to look at him. Aaron could see nothing but a metal skull on one side and a few metal workings on the other. Aaron watched numbly as Spencer took off running around the back of the house.

Aaron gathered Jack close.

It wasn't hard to spin a story about Jack kicking Lewis in the balls, and it was what made the man fall into the flames. When asked where Spencer was, Aaron said at his place. He wasn't sure what the hell Spencer was, but he was worried about what the hell it would mean for the FBI to find out that one of their own was a robot.

Aaron lied to the team when they tried to get him to come back to theirs, saying that Spencer and already asked them to stay at his. Aaron wasn't sure what to expect when he got to Spencer's apartment but to find the door open and the faint smell of burning wire and plastic over the top of their favorite Chinese foods was not it. Spencer was seated in the kitchen with a laptop in front of him. His fingers were typing quickly over it, and he held up a finger to ask for silence as he finished what he was typing.

Spencer turned to Aaron and Jack when he was done and had shut the laptop. He looked the same as he had before, before the fire, before the horrific sight of Spencer throwing Lewis into the fire.

"I was an experiment at Cal-Tech. The first time that a brain was able to be downloaded into a computer and stored as memory. Spencer Reid, son of Diana and William Reid, was killed in an accident in the lab when he was seventeen. I was born in the wake of that having donated my body to them for science. I didn't expect for my brain to become an AI, the first by the way. Artificial skin is what is laid over a polymer-metal and ceramic skeleton. I was purchased by the FBI and set to run through the Academy. They did not expect Gideon to latch onto me nor for me to like profiling. I was given leave to pursue the career that I wanted while helping with other things as my bosses saw fit."

"You are a robot?" Jack asked. He stepped up and poked Spencer on the cheek. Spencer just smiled.

"I am but not so hard, please. I still feel. I feel everything. This is my new body, same as the old. Jackson, my body benefactor, thought it best to keep one on hand. It's the first time I have needed it."

"Your hair grows," Aaron said because he was trying not to think about the fact that he had been in a relationship with a robot for two years.

"Yes, as do my nails. My skin is grown in a lab and while the nerve endings in it are wires, it does grow and its waste is extruded as hair and nails much like a real person."

Spencer looked at Aaron so pleadingly, so full of hope but scared at the same time. Aaron couldn't help stepping up and kissing him. He could learn to deal with having a robotic AI boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.


	5. The Mister Hotchner-Grimes One (Criminal Minds)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At an art showing close to his apartment, Spencer might just find what he's been looking for the whole of life, acceptance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title** : The Mister Hotchner-Grimes One  
>  **Fandom** : Criminal Minds  
>  **Year** : 2012  
>  **Tags** : One-Shot, Alternate Universe,  
>  **Ratings** : Teen And Up Audiences  
>  **Pairings** : Aaron Hotchner/Jackson Grimes, Aaron Hotchner/Jackson Grimes/Spencer Reid,  
>  **Characters** : Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, Jackson Grimes,  
>  **Spoilers** : None  
>  **Summary** : At an art showing close to his apartment, Spencer might just find what he's been looking for the whole of life, acceptance.  
>  **Words** : 959  
>  **Notes** : This is a one-shot, no further stories will be written for this.  
>  **Warnings** : None  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Spencer hadn't gone to the gallery that was close to his apartment in DC before. He hadn't felt the urge to look at art since his second year on the team. Every time that he thought about it, he thought about Lila, and that made him think of Gideon. Even years after the man had left, Spencer still hurt when he thought of him. Spencer had thought about putting out anything to see if Gideon responded. However, that thought always came with the thought that it would hurt more if Gideon never responded.

"Someone shouldn't be looking that upset looking at my art," a voice said.

Spencer turned around so quickly that he almost spilled the glass of champagne in his hand. The man in front of him smiled and steadied Spencer's glass without touching his hand. Spencer swallowed as he realized that the opening was for the man in front of him. Victor Marks was well known in the art world as well as the tech world due to his close friendship with Jackson Hotchner-Grimes.

"I was thinking about something else entirely that your art made me think of."

"Well, then evoking an emotion, even a bad one is one of the things that I do like to have happen. Victor Marks." Marks held out his hand, and Spencer shook it even though he didn't like the touch of strangers.

"Victor, are you trying to make the FBI agent run screaming?" a voice asked as a person walked up to Spencer's side. Spencer glanced at him and frowned because he wasn't sure how this person knew that he was an FBI agent. It wasn't like he screamed G-Man even when he was in a suit and sunglasses. The man was familiar somehow, but Spencer wasn't sure where he had seen him before. "How about a private tour?"

Marks smiled and winked at the man beside Spencer before turning away to leave. Spencer expected the man beside him to leave as the man had offered a private tour to Marks. However, Marks disappeared into the crowd, and Spencer was left alone with him. Spencer decided that maybe he should turn to face the new man. Spencer lost his ability to speak with how handsome the man was. His suit was the perfect cut for him and accentuated the fact that he was very fit.

"Doctor Reid, did you hear me?" The man looked a little concerned.

Spencer looked for the name tag that almost everyone was wearing but the man wasn't, and Spencer couldn't say a word because he wasn't as well.

"I'm sorry but how do know my name?" Spencer asked ignoring the man's questions.

The man grinned at Spencer, and he held out his arm like he was waiting for Spencer to take it. Spencer stared at him, and the only stared back. Spencer was pretty sure that the man would not follow him and possibly make a scene if Spencer left but the man was looking at Spencer in a way that Spencer could never remember being looked at before.

Spencer reached out and linked their arms, carefully making sure that the man wasn't wearing a shoulder holster as he did. The man grinned and pulled Spencer in a little closer before leaning in to brush his lips over Spencer's ear.

"My guns are clipped to my belt and my ankle, but that was very well done, Agent Doctor Reid."

"How do you know who I am?"

"All will be explained after I give you a private tour of the art that Victor set up here."

For an hour, Spencer listened as the man talked about each of the pieces of art that were on the walls. Spencer felt the rest of the room drift away and he focused on the man who was taking him around. The man flirted with Spencer casually at first but when Spencer felt brave enough to flirted back, and it grew and grew.

"There is one last piece of art that I want you to see, however before you do, I do want you to know that you have an out at any time."

The door in front of them was marked as authorized personnel only. There was only a single person on the other side, and Spencer knew him. Jackson Hotchner-Grimes. Spencer looked up at the man with him, and that was when he knew him. Aaron Hotchner-Grimes. Spencer swallowed and tried to free his arm. After the first tug, it was let go. Aaron kept on walking into the room and pressed a kiss to Jackson's forehead.

"Look who I found."

"I see, welcome Doctor Reid." Jackson started forward and held out his hand. Spencer shook it by rote, paying more attention to the painting that Jackson had been in front of. Spencer recognized himself in it. He was playing at the park with Henry.

"Six months ago Victor was taking shots around DC to use for his newest showing. This picture, as well as the others that he took of you that day in the park, caught our eye. Of course with Jackson's resources, it was easy to find out about you. We hoped that you would show up to one of the other showings here in your area, but you never have," Aaron said.

"You're married," Spencer said because the amount of flirting that Aaron had done with him was not anything innocent or casual. Spencer glared at Aaron, and he shrugged a little.

"If Jackson had been the one to find you, he would have flirted as well. Yes, we are married, but we have always agreed that our relationship didn't need to stay just the two of us if we found someone we want."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.


	6. The Weird Shifter One (Criminal Minds)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron knew the shifter that stole away into his yard was hiding, but as yet it had to do anything worse than cuddling into Aaron's side when he was watching TV he was allowing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title** : The Weird Shifter One  
>  **Fandom** : Criminal Minds  
>  **Year** : 2009  
>  **Tags** : One-Shot, Alternate Universe, Angst, Civilian!Hotch, Shifter,  
>  **Ratings** : Teen And Up Audiences  
>  **Pairings** : Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid  
>  **Characters** : Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, Jack Hotchner  
>  **Spoilers** : Up Through Season 5  
>  **Summary** : Aaron knew the shifter that stole away into his yard was hiding, but as yet it had to do anything worse than cuddling into Aaron's side when he was watching TV he was allowing it.  
>  **Words** : 939  
>  **Notes** : This is a one-shot, no further stories will be written for this.  
>  **Warnings** : None  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

"Hey little guy," Aaron said as he stepped up to the hedgehog that was walking through his yard and it was when he was crouching that he saw the trail of blood from the poor thing. Aaron stripped off his T-shirt and laid it down on the ground, trying to coax the poor thing onto it. It was hesitating, and Aaron wondered who had hurt a shifter and why.

Finally, after nearly five minutes, the shifter crawled onto the shirt and settled in the center. Aaron picked up each corner to make a sort of sling and carried it into the kitchen. Aaron knew a doctor who made house calls which was an expert in shifter and human physiologies.

* * *

Aaron felt the weight settle on his leg and reached down to pet the little hedgehog that had become part of the Hotchner household over the past two weeks. The poor guy's leg was still splinted, and Aaron wondered if that was why the shifter didn't go back to his human form. Doctor Hayes had said that he should as soon as he felt safe but Aaron wondered if the injury had been minimized when he turned into his animal form, and that going back was going to hurt a hell of a lot more.

Jack had named him Hedgie and while Aaron called him that when Jack was around, Aaron had spent the two weeks trying not to think of him as a pet. Whoever was inside of the animal body was smart. Two days into staying with them, Aaron found the shifter reading on Aaron's Kindle. Aaron watched him for ten minutes as the Hedgehog laid on a stack of books so that he could see the screen and read. The books were not s high that he couldn't tap the page. The shifter went through the pages about as quick as Aaron did which was remarkable.

"So we need to talk," Aaron said as he muted the TV and waited for a picture to pop up on the screen and paused it there. The shifter stopped trying to find a comfortable position on Aaron's leg and just settled there. Aaron picked him up and settled him on the back of the couch so that they were mostly eye to eye after Aaron turned around. Aaron looked at the shifter and saw that he was looking at the screen. There was a face frozen there. A face that Aaron had come to know well in the past week because the FBI agent depicted there had gone missing two weeks ago in McLean. Aaron had found out that the house he had gone missing from was just two blocks over. It had made news this past week as the FBI had been sure that someone the team had been chasing had taken him, but there had been no word. Aaron was pretty damned sure that he had the FBI agent living in his house. The man that had gone missing had a very high IQ and could read twenty thousand words a minute. There was a small chance that this fast-reading hedgehog wasn't the agent.

"If you are not FBI Spencer Agent Doctor Spencer Reid, then that's fine but no matter who you are, someone is worried about you."

The shifter started dot make a squeaking noise and Aaron reached out to pick him up. As soon as Aaron had a hold of him, he set him down on his lap. The shifter started to walk down Aaron's leg to where he could jump onto the couch and walk to Aaron's phone. Aaron reached over and typed in the code to unlock the phone. Th shifter pressed the call button and dialed a number. Aaron picked up the phone as it started to dial.

"Jareau."

"Hello, Agent Jareau. My name is Aaron Hotchner; I'm a lawyer in McLean. I have a very fast reading hedgehog in my custody."

"Thank fucking god. Thank you, Mr. Hotchner. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

The woman hung up, and Aaron looked down at Spencer. "So your team knows you are a shifter, but they didn't release that."

Spencer shuffled back to where he was hiding on the couch between Aaron's leg and it. Aaron let him stay there right up until the doorbell rang. Aaron stood up and carefully picked up Spencer.

Aaron wasn't expecting to see a family at the door. Agent jareau he knew from the news but the man with her and the baby that looked a little like both of them. Jareau looked relieved when her eyes landed on Spencer in his arms.

"Mr. Hotchner, this is my husband, Detective Will LaMontagne and our son Henry, Spencer's Godson."

"It wasn't until I saw the newscast today that talked about his reading speed and the fact that I knew I had an injured shifter on my hands that I put it together. He's gone through quite a few of my books on my Kindle."

"He was shot in the knee by an UnSub we were afraid that another UnSub who was on the run after attacking one of the team had taken him. Him hiding out with a father and son never crossed my mind. We have an issue because while yes we were looking for him, he was targeted by the UnSub I mentioned. You've heard of the Boston Reaper? After he attacked our other teammate, he left a note behind that targeted Spence. So we are hoping that right now, you'll keep Spence in your hands until he's fully healed. Right now he's a sitting duck."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.


	7. The Magic Is Real?! One (Criminal Minds)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer finds three little dragons in Aaron's house, thinking that he's gone insane but unwilling to leave the poor things alone, even if they are figments of imagination, Spencer tries to keep them hidden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title** : The Magic Is Real?! One  
>  **Fandom** : Criminal Minds  
>  **Year** : 2015  
>  **Tags** : One-Shot, Alternate Universe, Magic Is Real,  
>  **Ratings** : Teen And Up Audiences  
>  **Pairings** : Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid  
>  **Characters** : Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, Jack Hotchner  
>  **Spoilers** : None  
>  **Summary** : Spencer finds three little dragons in Aaron's house, thinking that he's gone insane but unwilling to leave the poor things alone, even if they are figments of imagination, Spencer tries to keep them hidden.  
>  **Words** : 992  
>  **Notes** : This is a one-shot, no further stories will be written for this.  
>  **Warnings** : None  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Spencer didn't know what to do. He looked at the three little dragons and knew that they were real, he knew that, but every single time that he thought to open his mouth to his lover about hiding three baby dragons in the attic, Spencer stopped himself. There were books that had been in the box with the eggs and Spencer had read them but it was on magic and rune, seemingly an ancient text from those who practiced occult things. Something he never thought that he would find in Aaron's attic.

Aaron had given him the attic to make into a room for himself to settle in. Aaron had his office, and Jack had a playroom that was off his room, but there was no room that was Spencer's and there wasn't an empty room that he could make into a library of sorts, so Aaron had cleaned out the attic for him. A storage shed had been purchased for the backyard and everything that went in there. Except for the book that Spencer had found in a little nook at the edge of the room.

"Spencer?" Aaron called out as his steps sounded on the stairs.

There would be no hiding the dragons if they were real and no more pretending for Spencer that he wasn't crazy if Aaron didn't see them. He didn't know which one he wanted to be true. If the dragons were real, then something really big was being hidden from him, and he didn't like that idea, mainly because the eggs had been in Aaron's house. If the dragons were not real, Spencer could deal with it.

"Spenc-oh fuck," Aaron said as he locked eyes with Spencer. Aaron looked down at the three dragons in Spencer's lap. Aaron walked over to Spencer and dropped to his knees. The little grey dragon took off for Aaron immediately. Aaron reached out and picked her up. There were two females and a male in the little group.

"I'm not hallucinating them?" Spencer asked, his voice shaking.

"Gods, no Spencer. They are weeks old. You've been hiding them for weeks?"

"I wasn't sure if I was seeing something that wasn't there or hallucinating and I was afraid of both outcomes. You had the eggs in your home, Aaron."

"Yes. I've had them since I was a child. Look, this is not something to talk about while crouching on the floor in the attic. Come on," Aaron said. He stood up and held out his hand; his dragon tucked into his other arm. Spencer scooped up the other two and took Aaron's hand. Aaron let go of Spencer's hand when he stood up and cupped the side of Spencer's face. "I'll tell you everything about me that I've never told you, but I want you to know this, Spencer, I love you. I love you so much, but I've been unable to tell you anything about this because of the rules that surround my working at the FBI. However, finding these eggs and being confronted with it has allowed me to tell you."

"Why would you have rules about that?" Spencer asked.

"Because I am not human."

"What?" Spencer stopped following Aaron. Aaron turned around on the steps and looked back and up at Spencer.

"I am not human, and neither is Jack."

"What are you?"

"A dragon. These three are my kids."

"WHAT?!" Spencer felt the world start to grey out around the edges. He tried to clutch the dragons closer to him so that when he fell they wouldn't fall off but they took off from him, flying to Aaron. Flying to their father and settling on his shoulder with their sister. Spencer felt something grip his body and it wasn't Aaron. He felt like he was lying on pillows instead of steps just as the world went black.

* * *

Spencer felt something rough and wet on his face and brushed at it, he hit something small and hard and heard a little almost clucking sound. Spencer forced his eyes open. The light was bright so he blinked a few times to get used to it before he saw that it was one of the dragons that were on a pillow beside him and licking his face it seemed. Spencer let his eyes move around the room to see that he was in his and Aaron's bedroom.

"Spencer?" Jack asked. The bed shifted, and Jacks' face appeared in front of Spencer's eyes. "Dad, he's awake."

Aaron appeared behind Jack, and he had a soft look on his face. Aaron was worried about him. Before Aaron could get close, the other two small dragons crowded into Spencer's face. Spencer felt licks over his entire face.

"Let him breathe," Aaron said before picking the dragons up. All three started to cry out as soon as Aaron settled them into the crook of his arm. "You can cuddle when he gets up. I didn't expect you to pass out though I should have because it was a lot. I have a book here for you to read. I didn't realize that I had missed a box when I moved everything out of the attic for you."

Spencer took the book that Jack handed him. It was huge and old, and as soon as Spencer touched it, he felt something like electricity pass over him. He had felt that once before when he had picked up the eggs, and then just minutes later they started to hatch.

"You said they were your kids. But..." Spencer looked at Jack.

"If I mate with a dragon in dragon form, we have eggs and dragons. If we are in human form, we have humans. When they reach a few years old, they can move back and forth."

Spencer watched Jack change in front of him from boy to a dragon that was the size of a large dog. He was living with dragons. Five dragons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.


	8. The Fluffy Shifter One (James Bond)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watching Double-O's stuck in their forms was bad. Q basically had a zoo in his yard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title** : The Fluffy Shifter One  
>  **Fandom** : James Bond  
>  **Year** : 2012  
>  **Tags** : One-Shot, Shifter, Alternate Universe,  
>  **Ratings** : Teen And Up Audiences  
>  **Pairings** : James Bond/Q/Alec Trevelyan  
>  **Characters** : James Bond, Q, Alec Trevelyan  
>  **Spoilers** : Up Through Spectre  
>  **Summary** : Watching Double-O's stuck in their forms was bad. Q basically had a zoo in his yard.  
>  **Words** : 995  
>  **Notes** : This is a one-shot, no further stories will be written for this.  
>  **Warnings** : None  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Q looked at the various shifters that were around his yard. Q had a large property in his name on the edge of London proper. Trees lined the whole of it, and it was perfect because Q had a strong fence that would allow nothing out, even the various Double-O's that were now stuck in shifter form.

With two of the nine current Double-O's being Q's lovers, he didn't mind watching all of them. Every other agent was back at MI6 preparing for whatever was happening. The problem was that those who attacked MI6 had not done it that smartly. They had turned all of the staff on hand into their shifter form with an illegal biotoxin that was banned across the world. Q had not been on shift, but he had arrived after the halls had been cleared. The only Double-O who wasn't a man-eating beast was Alec, and he was a chimpanzee, Alec had ripped a man's eyes out. James was a lion which Q found funny because, despite his moniker of a lothario, he was nowhere near a man-eater when he wasn't in his shifted form. There were other lions, tigers, and even two bears in the rest of the Double-O's.

Q had yet to show anyone, even his lovers, his form. He was new to shifting as he had never thought that the gene would trigger in him however it had after being affected with the biotoxin that had been developed. Q had been taken captive by a terrorist organisation before he had worked at MI6. It was, in fact, him contacting MI6 with the computers on hand at the facility he had been kept that had got him working there once he was rescued.

Alec stalked around Q and Q knew that he thought that Q wasn't paying attention, but Q had nine lethal Double-O's that were pissed off because they were stuck in shifted form for two days at least. Q waited until Alec was about to do whatever he thought he was going to and then he moved. Q spun around with his enhanced reflexes and shifted in one single elegant move. Alec was not ready for the White Siberian tiger cub to land on him, and he didn't expect it to ride him down to the ground. Alec started to laugh, and it drew the looks of the rest of the Double-O's.

Q ignored them as he licked at Alec's face. There was a chuffing sound, and then Q felt teeth close around his neck and pick him up. Q roared and tried to bat at whoever had him in his jaws. Q was pretty sure that it was because none of the other Double-O's, male or female would dare to pick him up in human form much less shifted animal form. James though was just cocky enough to do it. Q was dropped down as James settled down and started to lick Q. Q tried to wiggle out of James's huge paws, but James was good at keeping him where he wanted him. Q sighed mentally and settled in to be groomed. Alec was still on his back watching.

This was why Q had never shifted in front of his lovers. Since he was still a cub in shifting terms, he looked like a baby. It would be at least ten or more years before his shifted form matched his age. It was rare for anyone to ever shift for the first time after the age of seven. Q stretched in James's arms and settled down. Q had fed the Double-O's and made sure that they understood that leaving would not be good. He could relax for a little bit in James's arms.

Once James was sure that his scent was all over Q and that Q was clean to his standards, James settled down with his head on his paws, trapping Q underneath his neck. Q was warm, and it was nice to have James around him like he was. He would have to see about doing this more often, just in the safety of the flat that the three of them shared.

James and Alec had been the two Double-O's that had been dispatched to take out the terrorists who were developing a biotoxin and save the people taken. They were to make sure Q was brought back to MI6 to recuperate and discuss his new job as R within MI6. Q had crawled into James's lap within seconds of getting in a car with them; Alec was driving so he only got to watch as Q thanked James for saving him. James had tried to tell Q that it was the drug, but Q countered that with he hadn't felt the urge to crawl into any of the other shifters that were in the building and the majority of the people who were in there, willingly or not were shifters.

The three of them had stayed at a safe house overnight as Q needed to get some of the toxins out of him before he could be given something to allow him to relax because of his fear of flying. Blood samples had been taken before James and Alec had left with him, and after analysing it, they had been told how long to wait to give him pills to calm him. Q had never been a big fan of people who had sex with someone early but Thank God I'm Alive sex with two very fit men had been the only upside to what had happened to him.

Alec shoved at James just as Q was almost asleep. Q roared at him, and Alec settled in ad James's side to sleep as well. The rest of the Double-O's were close but circled around James and Q, protecting the weakest of their pack but hopefully not weak forever. Q's form would grow, and then he would be a force to be reckoned with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.


	9. The Nightmare One (Criminal Minds)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the nightmares that worried Aaron the most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title** : The Nightmare One  
>  **Fandom** : Criminal Minds  
>  **Year** : 2018  
>  **Tags** : One-Shot  
>  **Ratings** : Mature  
>  **Pairings** : Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid  
>  **Characters** : Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, Jack Hotchner  
>  **Spoilers** : Up Through Season 12  
>  **Summary** : It was the nightmares that worried Aaron the most.  
>  **Words** : 890  
>  **Notes** : This is a one-shot, no further stories will be written for this.  
>  **Warnings** : None  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Aaron rolled over and found the bed cold, his hand slipping between soft sheets and heavy blanket. It was cold outside, and the cabin was warm only because of the fire. Aaron rolled onto his back and then sat up, looking around. The room looked to be empty at first glance but tucked into the corner inside of the closet was Spencer. Aaron regretted his choice more and more as the days went by. Spencer had been freed from prison and free from being suspected of murder for only three weeks. Spencer had been in prison for just two weeks, but it had left an impact on Spencer.

There was nothing that could be done for Spencer other than just being there for him. Holding him when Spencer allowed it and just sitting there when he didn't. THere had been a lot of changes in the aftermath of finding out who was after Spencer. Aaron had come out of hiding as soon as he found out that Spencer was in jail. Bringin Jack with him and all but moving them into the FBI building while Aaron worked on getting Spencer free. It had taken a week of Aaron combing through everything to find out what he needed to get Spencer free from prison and then waiting for another court day had taken two more days. When Aaron had shown up in the courtroom, Spencer had nearly broken down. He looked so scared, but Aaron knew that it was because he was afraid of what Scratch would do if he got ahold of Jack.

As soon as Scratch had started to stalk Jack, Spencer had been the one to push for him and Aaron to go into hiding. Aaron had tried to talk Spencer into going as well, but Spence wanted to be there where he could hunt Scratch, just like Aaron had stayed out the last time to hunt Foyet. Except for this time, Aaron wasn't going to allow Scratch to trick him into coming out of hiding. Spencer getting framed for murder had not been in their thoughts at all.

It had taken two hours of thinking for Aaron to make the decision but what had decided him was that Jack would never forgive him for staying back when Aaron could do something to save Spencer. Jack loved Spencer like he loved Aaron, fiercely and wholly.

Spencer had been given two months off, after which he would come back and get recertified on everything. Spencer didn't care about that part. He just wanted the time off. Aaron had rented a cabin in the hills of mountains of West Virginia, and they had plans to do nothing but whatever the hell the three of them wanted until they got bored of it. Aaron hoped that being out where he knew he was safe would help Spencer sleep, but it wasn't. Spencer slept for about four hours and then woke up. Aaron would coax him into a nap in the middle of the day, using it as downtime for him and Jack as well, the two of them usually reading or watching something on the TV with the DVD player they brought with them. Spencer would fight it, but usually, his body won.

Aaron hoped like he did every night, that he would get Spencer to talk about his nightmare. Slipping from the bed, Aaron grabbed the top blanket and walked to the closet. It was big enough for Aaron to sit beside him in there. Spencer was curled into a tight ball, and the blanket was easy to tuck around him on all of his sides and draw around his front to hold onto it there. Aaron could feel his body making warmth for Spencer who was dressed just in a pair of boxers. Spencer curled into him as the warmth crept around him.

"Talk to me please."

"Do you remember that dream I had after the guy who was doing the rabies experiments?"

"The lady who turned into butterflies and attacked you?" Aaron asked even though he knew that was what it was. Aaron marveled at Spencer's mind on a daily basis, but that incredible mind turned dark when it came to Spencer's nightmares.

Spencer turned in Aaron's arms and straddled his lap. Aaron always wondered at how Spencer got himself so small. Spencer had lost weight that he really couldn't afford to lose during the two weeks in prison, and Aaron was trying to get him to put it back on. Time was what Spencer needed, and Aaron would give him that time. Time to heal, time to adjust, and just time to become the new man that he was because even a short period in prison would change anyone.

Aaron wrapped the blanket around the two of them better and shifted to how he used to sit with Spencer in his lap back in the apartment that they had been in for Spencer's nightmares before. Aaron wrapped his arms around Spencer tightly. Spencer shuddered in his arms and then went lax. Aaron tried to remember a story, any story but nothing came to mind, so he started to make up something in his head. Anything that would help Spencer get back to sleep and remind him that he wasn't alone and he wasn't stuck in a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.


	10. The Q's Mind One (James Bond)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James never expected to come back to MI6 to find Q not there, not his Q that was. Then the whole truth comes out, Q was taken and no one could find him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title** : The Q's Mind One  
>  **Fandom** : James Bond  
>  **Year** : 2013  
>  **Tags** : One-Shot, Amnesia, Bondlock,  
>  **Ratings** : Mature  
>  **Pairings** : Past James Bond/Q  
>  **Characters** : James Bond, Q,  
>  **Spoilers** : Up Through Spectre  
>  **Summary** : James never expected to come back to MI6 to find Q not there, not his Q that was. Then the whole truth comes out, Q was taken and no one could find him.  
>  **Words** : 1,000  
>  **Notes** : This is a one-shot, no further stories will be written for this.  
>  **Warnings** : Discussion of Canon Level Violence, Off Screen Rape, Torture,  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

James Bond wasn't sure what he would find when he got to the end of the trail that he had followed. He hoped to find the final piece of SPECTRE and get rid of hem for good. He had not expected to find his Quartermaster in a monastery where monks lived. He did not expect to find a broken man who did little except or walk around and stare. According to the monk who had found Q wandering in the road on the edges of the town, beaten and bloody. Q had said no words since then.

Medical learned that if you set food near him, he would eat. Same with drinks. He had no preference for food but would stay away from the things that made him sick. Q didn't move around the room he was given, and he just stared. If no one gave him food, he didn't eat.

Two Double-'Os in China to follow the trail back from where Q had been found. What they found was a burned out building and talk of the people who had been there. The only thing that James and the rest of MI6 could figure is that Q escaped before burning the place down and killing those we had taken him but succumbed to the torture.

James tried to find him. Tried to find Q before they shipped him off to a place where no one would know him.

Q was kept at MI6 for two weeks. James visited every single day but nothing. Then came the day that James walked into the room and bloody Mycroft Holmes was standing in front of Q.

"The mind is a wonderful and horrific thing," Holmes said. James watched him step up to Q and tap on the back of his hand. It was nonsense tapping, but after Holmes lifted his hand, Q blinked a few times and focused on Mycroft.

"Where is my tea?" Q asked.

"Anthea will be along with it in a moment. She had to go to our branch to find the capabilities to brew a good cup."

"Q?" James asked, finally drawing Q's eyes to him. The eyes were clear, and there were no shadows despite what the monk had told James of what Q's injuries were and what medical had found five weeks later.

"Bond, what are you doing here?" Q looked down at the sweats that he was wearing and looked back up at Mycroft. "Clothes would be nice."

"I have a bag here for you. Agent Bond, please leave the room," Holmes said his eyes never leaving Q.

James didn't know what to do. He looked at Q and saw that Q was looking through the bag that James hadn't even noticed had been on the floor.

"Agent Bond?" Holmes asked again.

James looked at Q who had finally looked up at him, but he was looking at James like had no clue why he was even there much less why he wasn't leaving. James turned on his heel and left.

* * *

James entered Q-Branch after a week-long babysitting mission with M in France and found something that he never thought that he would see. He had bits of equipment he used to make sure their suite was clear of bugs to turn in. M had been in France to discuss some things found when what could be recovered from where Q had been taken to.

Q was at the helm of Q-Branch, directing Alec on a mission it seemed. James handed his things off to Q's assistant who set them in Q's office for going over before they were added back into the rotation of things for staff. James watched Q for three hours as Alec fought his way out of a trap and then took one of the people who was trying to kill him, hostage, instead. Q put on headphones just as Alec got the hostage back to a safe house and James was pretty sure that Alec was torturing him for information. Q didn't react.

When everything was done an hour later, James was waiting in Q's office when the man finally entered it.

"Bond, I have your things here to go over, you can go." Q looked as clear-eyed as he always did. It was insane that Q had been tortured as bad as he had been and then was fine just a week later after being near catatonic. "I have a dinner with my brothers I need to go to so please leave."

"Brothers?" James asked. Q had never mentioned family at all. Not in their discussions late at night while Q was overseeing James's missions or when James couldn't sleep, and Q kept him entertained as he ran a mission for another Double-O.

"You met my oldest last week. Sherlock is being dramatic about finding out that I was kidnapped, so I need to make an appearance, or he's going to come in here. M would rather that no happen, so I've been ordered to make nice with my brother."

"How are you..." James stopped because he wasn't sure what he wanted to ask.

"I have a fascinating mind, Bond. I choose what I want to be there and what I don't want. My brothers taught me well how to make sure that no one ever did anything that would harm me. It's easy to shut off and come back when I want. I went a little deeper than I wanted and Mycroft had to help me escape. Though hearing my brother's flatmate scream about how Sherlock could delete the knowledge that the Earth moves around the sun is fun. Now if you will excuse me."

James watched as Q started to check the equipment. He stood up and stood behind Q, brushing his fingers over the point on Q's neck that always made him shiver in the best ways.

"I can delete what I want but know that I have deleted it. Do not touch me again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author sees and appreciates all comments, but may not reply.


End file.
